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Rocky V
Rocky V is a 1990 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen, and the fifth film in the Rocky film series. It was produced by United Artists and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and released on November 16, 1990. A sequel, Rocky Balboa, followed in 2006. Plot Shortly after Rocky Balboa's victory over Ivan Drago in Moscow, Rocky, his wife Adrian, his brother-in-law Paulie and his trainer Tony "Duke" Evers return to the United States, where they are greeted by Rocky's son, Robert. At a press conference, boxing promoter George Washington Duke attempts to goad Rocky into fighting his boxer, Union Cane, who is now the top-rated challenger, but Rocky declines the offer. Duke refuses to give up on the huge payday fight with Balboa and surmises that he needs to come up with an angle to convince him to fight. After returning home, it is discovered that Paulie unknowingly had Rocky sign a "power of attorney" over to Rocky's accountant, who had squandered all of his money on real estate deals gone sour; in addition, the accountant failed to pay Rocky's taxes over the previous six years and his mansion had been mortgaged by $400,000. His lawyer confirms this, but tells Rocky that it is fixable with a few more fights. Unwilling to go bankrupt, Rocky decides to accept the mega fight with Cane, but after seeing a doctor, he learns that he has permanent brain damage. Adrian convinces him to retire, which he reluctantly accepts. Adrian returns to working part-time at the J&M Tropical Fish pet store. Rocky plans to reopen Mighty Mick's Boxing Gym, willed to his son Robert by his late trainer Mickey Goldmill. He walks through the vacant gym and reminisces about a training session between the two just before Rocky fought the rematch against Apollo Creed years before. One day, Rocky & Paulie meet a young fighter from Oklahoma named Tommy Gunn and Rocky takes him under his wing. Training the young fighter gives Rocky a sense of purpose, and Gunn rises to become a top contender. Rocky becomes so distracted with Gunn's training that he ends up neglecting Robert, who is being bullied at school. After learning to defend himself, he falls in with the wrong crowd and becomes withdrawn and angry toward his family. Union Cane wins the vacant world heavyweight title, while Gunn continues rising through the ranks. Still wanting to do business with Rocky, Duke sees Gunn's knockout streak and relationship with Rocky as a way of gaining control of him. Duke showers Gunn with luxuries and promises him that he is the only path to a shot against Union Cane for the title. Duke hopes to take control of Gunn as his manager and keep Rocky on as head trainer. On Christmas Eve, Duke visits the Balboa house with Gunn to explain the new scenario, which would financially benefit all of them. However, Rocky insists dealing with Duke will end badly and is dirty business. Gunn drives off in a huff, leaving Rocky for good. Adrian attempts to comfort Rocky, but his frustration boils over. He confesses his life had meaning again when he was able to live vicariously through Gunn's success. She reasons with him, telling him Tommy never had his heart and spirit—something he could never learn. When this realization hits him, Rocky embraces his wife and they begin to pick up the pieces. After finding Robert hanging out on a street corner, Rocky apologizes to his son and they mend their broken relationship. Gunn fights Cane for the heavyweight title as Rocky watches on television, still rooting for his protégé. Gunn wins the fight with a first round knockout but is jeered by spectators for leaving Rocky and hounded by reporters after the fight. They insist that Cane was nothing but a "paper champion", because Cane did not win the title from Balboa. They claim he will never be the real champion unless he fights a worthy opponent, like Rocky; they drive the point home when one reporter announces, "...he's no Rocky Balboa!" With Gunn incensed by the press's reaction, Duke convinces him that he needs to secure a title fight with Rocky to refute the notion that he is not the real champion. Duke and Gunn show up at the local bar with a live television crew to goad Rocky into accepting a title fight. Rocky declines and tries to reason with him, but Gunn rebukes it and calls him weak, prompting Paulie to stand up for Rocky. When Gunn attacks Paulie, Rocky accepts the challenge, but tells him "my ring is outside." Despite Duke's warnings to keep the fight in the ring, Gunn accepts. During the fight, Rocky is seemingly beaten down before he hears the voice of Mickey urging him to get up and continue the fight, to go just "one more round." Rocky gets up with Robert, Paulie, and the entire neighborhood cheering him on, he utilizes his vast street fighting knowledge to defeat Gunn. While Gunn is escorted away by the police, Duke threatens to sue Rocky if he touches him. After a brief hesitation, Rocky knocks him onto the hood of a car and quips, "Sue me for what?" The next morning, Rocky and Robert explore the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Rocky gives Robert Rocky Marciano's cufflink (which was given to him years ago as a gift from Mickey). The film ends with a shot of Rocky's statue looking out over the Philadelphia skyline. Cast *Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa *Talia Shire as Adrian *Sage Stallone as Rocky Balboa Jr. *Burt Young as Paulie *Burgess Meredith as Mickey Goldmill *Tommy Morrison as Tommy "Machine" Gunn *Richard Gant as George Washington Duke *Tony Burton as Duke *James Gambina as Jimmy *Delia Sheppard as Karen *Michael Sheehan as Merlin Sheets *Michael Anthony Williams as Union Cane *Kevin Connolly as Chickie *Elisebeth Peters as Jewel Production Some of the fight sequences were filmed at The Blue Horizon in Philadelphia, a venue which was a mecca for boxing in the city during the 1970s. The scenes with Mickey were trimmed in the final film when Rocky fights Tommy. Mickey appeared in ghost form on top of the railway bridge, giving words of encouragement. In the final film, this was made into flashbacks. The speech that Mickey gives to Rocky in the flashback sequence is based on an interview with Cus D'Amato given in 1985, shortly after Mike Tyson's first professional bout. The image of Gunn's first professional fight, the pullback from the mural of Jesus over the boxing ring, mirrors the opening shot of the first "Rocky" movie. Adrian goes back to working at the pet shop she first worked at in the original Rocky. The golden glove necklace featured so prominently in this film was first seen in "Rocky II" (worn by Apollo Creed), then again throughout "Rocky III" and "Rocky IV." As a promotional gimmick, replicas of the necklace were distributed to moviegoers at the Hollywood premiere of "Rocky V" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The famous red, white and blue boxing trunks (that was first worn by Apollo Creed in his fight with Rocky in the first film) make their fifth and final appearance in this film. Rocky's leather coat introduced in Rocky makes its third and final appearance in the franchise at the start of the movie. The Ring magazine belt in Rocky's basement and the identical belt Morrison wins in the ring have changed slightly from the previous movies; they are missing the four side panels showing famous champions (from left to right) Floyd Patterson, James J. Corbett, George Foreman, and James J. Braddock. According to Stallone, pro wrestling legend Terry Funk helped choreograph much of the street fight between Rocky and Tommy Gunn. Original Ending In the original script, Rocky is killed during the final fight with Tommy Gunn, dying in Adrian's arms in the street. Through most of the filming and production, this was to be the outcome; it wasn't until the film was nearing completion that Sylvester Stallone decided against Rocky's death and went with the current ending. According to him, the director and the studio had second thoughts. Eventually, Stallone rewrote the ending, saying that he decided to change it because Rocky was supposed to be about perseverance and redemption, and having him die in a street brawl would be against the roots of the series. Box Office Although it was anticipated to be one of the big hits of the 1990 holiday season "Rocky V" opened at #2 at the box office (behind "Home Alone"), grossing $14,073,170 during its opening weekend. Domestically, it grossed $40,946,358. However, the movie made almost twice as much overseas and thereby a total of $119.9 million worldwide. Reception "Rocky V" has a 28% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The site's consensus states: "Rocky V's attempts to recapture the original's working-class grit are as transparently phony as each of the thuddingly obvious plot developments in a misguided installment that sent the franchise flailing into longterm limbo." It also has a score of 55 out of 100 on Metacritic (based on 16 critics) indicating "mixed or average reviews." The Washington Post wrote: "Despite Stallone's bantamweight attempts to insert, like, character into the fifth Rocky, it's the same old fight with the same old round of regulars. It seems silly wasting money on actors when the same could be achieved with Muppets. Rocky has little to do except shuffle around and mutter "cute" Rocky t'ings." In Variety magazine's review of the film, they wrote: "When the underdog always wins he's not much of an underdog anymore, and the narrative cartwheels Sylvester Stallone has turned over the years to put Rocky in that position have peeled away the novelty." Criticism was also drawn from the film's ending, claiming that following Sylvester Stallone's last minute decision not to kill off Rocky, the film's build-up and narrative was lost. Despite the mixed reviews from critics, Stallone was still praised for his performance and the film received some positive feedback from some fans, with the Los Angeles Times regarding it as the best of the Rocky sequels, writing in its review: "In Rocky V, the fifth and presumably last episode of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa saga, the writer-star once again contrives a way to make his hulking, sad-eyed gladiator the underdog. And we get whiffs of funkiness and humanity stirring around for the first time since the original Rocky." The Chicago Tribune's Gene Siskel said about the film: "What is undeniably good about Rocky V is that our working-class hero returns to the grimy neighborhood from which he sprang. Seeing a more slender, "street" Rocky is a refreshing change of pace from the muscle-bound champ of Parts 3 and 4." Category:Films Category:1990s films Category:American films Category:Sports films Category:Drama films Category:United Artists films Category:PG 13-rated films Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Category:Sequels Category:1990 films